Right to trauma care part of right to life: Supreme Court issues directions for uniform road accident trauma care

The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the right to trauma care is an integral part of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution [Savelife Foundation vs. Union of India].

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar made the observation while issuing a slew of directions to all States and Union Territories to build a uniform road accident trauma care system across the country.

"When a person suffers an accident or any such similar incident which requires urgent trauma care, they usually feel shock and disorientation, a sense of helplessness, where they have to hope that those around them would somehow help them get the care that they need. In such a situation, every minute spent without medical intervention or urgent care significantly narrows the scope for survival. Swiftness, is quite literally, like medicine," the judgment said.

The Court passed the order on a petition filed by NGO SaveLife Foundation seeking directions to integrate all emergency helplines into a single universal access number, establish good samaritan grievance redressal systems, frame a standardised medical rescue protocol, ensure ambulance compliance with national codes, set up State trauma registries and operationalise cashless treatment schemes for road accident victims.

The Court observed that in cases of road accidents, every minute without medical intervention significantly narrows the scope for survival.

The Court also said that while that there are different stages of care after an accident, the initial response and first aid is perhaps the most crucial. The other stages include transportation of the victim to the nearest available healthcare facility and the post-hospitalization immediate care by the health workers.

"A robust mechanism for trauma care, therefore, must take a bottom-up approach, which accounts for various stakeholders," the judgment said.

The Court noted that while the Union government has constructed a broad policy architecture, including PM RAHAT, the Rah-Veer Scheme, Good Samaritan Rules, the National Ambulance Code and the ERSS-112 emergency response system, the ground-level implementation across States and UTs remained scanty and fragmented.

Hence, it proceeded to issue nine directions:

1. All States and UTs should fully integrate emergency and ambulance helplines, including 100, 101, 108, 102, 1033 and 1091, into the unified helpline 112 within three months, accompanied by concurrent mass-media publicity campaigns.

2. Within the same period, States and UTs must establish functional Good Samaritan Grievance Redressal Systems, both physical and digital, with designated nodal authorities at the State and district level. They must organise monthly meetings and upload the minutes on the concerned portals as part of periodic compliance reporting.

3. The Union's Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Road Transport and Highways should notify a standardised medical rescue protocol for trauma cases within three months, following which States and UTs must operationalise it within a further three months.

4. On ambulances, the Court directed full compliance with Automotive Industry Standard-125, mandatory GPS and Vehicle Location Tracking Device fitment with real-time integration into helpline 112, and periodic structured audits covering response times, quality of care and equipment.

5. States must also adopt the NCAHP-notified EMT curriculum for paramedics, noting that the curriculum has already been notified by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professionals.

6. On trauma registries, the MoHFW has eight weeks to issue data format guidelines, following which States should establish State Trauma Registries linked to a Coordinated National Registry within four months.

7. The grading and designation of medical facilities should extend beyond National Highways to State Highways, major district roads and urban and peri-urban areas.

8. On PM RAHAT, the Court directed all States and UTs to complete hospital designation, on-board State Health Agencies on the Transaction Management System, deploy district police on the electronic Detailed Accident Report system and open DC sub-agency accounts within three months. The Court clarified that non-compliance would constitute a violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

9. States and UTs that have not yet adopted the Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025, should fully operationalise it within three months.

The Court directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs. They have to then submit action-taken reports with the Court's registry after complying with the directions.

The matter will be heard again after four months.

Attorney General R Venkataramani appeared for the Union of India. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocate Malvika Kapila appeared for the petitioners.

[Read Judgment]